Repeatability regulations

Reform of Repeatability Regulations Needed

For background, see the overview article on this issue in the December 2014 Advocate

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Click here to sign an online petition to support the reform of repeatability requirements

The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC) passed the first resolution shown below at the fall plenary. It calls for local senates to gather information about the impact at the program level of the 2012 changes to the repeatability regulations and hold a breakout at the Spring 2015 Plenary April 9-11, 2015. The ASCCC will then research the impact of the changes, use the research to inform possible actions on the issue, and present the research at the Spring 2016 Plenary session.

Local Senates should research this issue on their campuses and engage in the discussion at the Spring Plenary (April 9-11, 2015.) For example, the Cabrillo College Senate passed the second resolution shown below. In summary, the Cabrillo Senate has committed to form a working group, in collaboration with the union to: research the effects of the regulations on Cabrillo programs; bring the results of that research to the ASCCC’s breakout session on the effects of repeatability regulations at the Spring 2015 plenary; contribute to the research that will be presented to the Spring 2016 Plenary session; and communicate the ongoing work of the group with other college faculty senates, with members of the ASCCC Executive Board, with various components of Cabrillo College, and with the Governing Board of Cabrillo College.

ADDITIONAL AVENUES for continued advocacy include:

  • Engaging with students that support reforming the regulations
  • Gaining support from local Governing Boards
  • Meeting with legislators
  • Working with community and educational allies to support

 


Resolution Passed at ASCCC Plenary – Nov. 15, 2014

Please Note: The language below is not yet officially adopted as the final language of the resolution, but the intent will remain the same.

9.08 – Impact of Changes to Course Repeatability

Whereas, Title 5 regulations concerning repeatability of classes in physical education, visual arts, and performing arts place active participatory classes into families of courses that are related in content;

Whereas, Under Title 5#55040 students are allowed to take only four courses from any given group with withdrawals and substandard grades counting toward the enrollment limit;

Whereas, Some degrees within the physical education, visual arts, and performing arts require four semesters of coursework within a content group (e.g., four semesters of applied music lessons for an AA-T in music), and students who withdraw from such a class face a significant obstacle to degree completion that can only be overcome through the waiver process in which the college forfeits apportionment for any repeats of the course beyond the limit; and

Whereas, This approach to content grouping represents both a barrier to student success and inequitable treatment of students;

Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges gather information from local senates about the impact at the program level of the 2012 changes to the repeatability regulations and hold a breakout session on at the Spring 2015 Plenary; and

Resolved, That the Academic Senate for the California Community Colleges research the impact of the program level of the 2012 changes to the repeatability regulations, use the research to inform possible future actions regarding this issue, and present the research at the Spring 2016 Plenary Session.

Contact: Elliot Jones , Santa Ana College

 

Resolution Passed by the Cabrillo College Faculty Senate

Whereas, the California Community Colleges (CCCs) have an essential and visionary mission to provide accessible high-quality education for the distinct and diverse communities throughout the state and taxpayers and the electorate continue to invest in CCCs through bond measures and tax initiatives in demonstration of their support for a vibrant CCC system that offers a breadth of opportunities to its citizenry;

Whereas, recent limits on repeatability have had uneven and adverse impacts on areas of education where repeated and varied practice of a skill is essential to the learning process, such as the arts and kinesiology;

Whereas, limitations inherent in the creation of “families” of courses related in content can raise barriers to student success, and arts education in the K-12 system has diminished significantly in recent years, creating student populations that often lack a foundation in these areas; and

Whereas, at its Fall 2014 Plenary ASCCC passed a resolution to “hold a breakout session on the 2012 changes to the repeatability regulations at the Spring 2015 Plenary to gather information from local senates about the impact at the program level of the new repeatability regulations,” to “research the impact of the…changes to the repeatability regulations, [to] use the research to inform possible further actions regarding this issue,” and to “present the research at the Spring 2016 Plenary session,”

Resolved, that the Cabrillo College Faculty Senate will create, in collaboration with representatives from the Cabrillo College Federation of Teachers, a working group on repeatability regulations and will research the effects of the regulations on Cabrillo programs; bring the results of that research to the ASCCC’s breakout session on the effects of repeatability regulations at the Spring 2015 plenary; contribute to the research that will be presented to the Spring 2016 Plenary session; and communicate the ongoing work of the group with other college faculty senates, with members of the ASCCC Executive Board, with various components of Cabrillo College, and with the Governing Board of Cabrillo College.


This version of the resolution was prepared by a joint group of the Faculty Senate and the Cabrillo College Federation of Teachers and approved at the Dec. 2, 2014 meeting of the Faculty Senate.